Chimers Musical Group Profiled

[Key Guy]

From the Daily Mercury, Mackay, Queensland, Australia

http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2009/06/24/chimers-spread-the-joy/

Quote:

BRINGING joy through the sound of music, the Joy Chimers are not your typical music group.

Playing the bell chimes, they bring their music to the needy.

Their current goal is to raise $5000 to help build a women's house in Vanuatu.

Conductor of the group, Cynthia Delaney, said the chimers' mission to raise the money came about after the group visited the country last year.

“We asked a pastor at one of the schools we visited what we could do to help; we were quite surprised when he said a women's house because it's such a male dominated land.

He told us the women had nowhere to go to do craft, play or just meet if the church was not available,” Mrs Delaney said.

The group was informed there was land available for the house but no money for construction.

“We asked him how much the house would cost and he said this extraordinary amount, but then we changed it into Australian dollars and it was roughly $5000,” she said.

The Joy Chimers have dedicated the past 12 months to raising the money.

“We're about $1000 away from our goal,” Mrs Delaney said.

The Joy Chimers ventured to Vanuatu after the group's leader Kay Fatnowna wanted to visit relatives and see the country where her ancestors came from.

“We went around to different churches to play and we were even invited to play at the jail, but they had a jail break and the security was tightened so we couldn't play there,” Mrs Delaney said.

A highlight of the trip for the group was an invitation to the Prime Minister's Ball.

“The president and prime minister were both there and we played 'How Great Thou Art'. The president got up and sang - he said it was one of his favourite hymns. Can you imagine Kevin Rudd getting up to sing?” Mrs Delaney laughed.

The group also received an invitation to the independence celebration, which Mrs Delaney said was an important event for the country and a great honour for the group.

Falling under the umbrella of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, the group's religion plays a strong role in their music.

Ms Delaney said the group started to play the chimes four years ago when she took on the role of conductor.

In that time, she said, the chimers have learnt to read music and master the skill of chiming.

“Each chime is like one note and the chimers have to use a technique called weaving which means they have to chime with one hand while picking up another chime with the other hand, some of the group are very smooth at this,” she said.

The Joy Chimers will be playing at the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Holack Street, North Mackay on July 10 from 7pm.

[Outta Here]

Good news!